AN award-winning artist is hoping to urge the Scottish Government to scale up climate education and consider how global warming is affecting women and girls in its policy-making.
Migration Blanket – Climate Solidarity, a film created by art organisation ARTConnects, will be shown at the Scottish Parliament over a three-day exhibition from Tuesday to Thursday.
The film – which won Best Animated Short at the Berlin Independent Film Festival 2021 – focuses on how women and girls in particular are being impacted by climate change and features hundreds of pieces of handmade artwork from refugee and marginalised women in Commonwealth countries.
ARTConnects – which runs climate focussed workshops and events to help migrants and refugees – was set up by artist Salma Zulfiqar in 2017 and she received a British Empire Medal for her work last year.
In a policy paper presented to the Scottish and UK governments, Zulfiqar has highlighted how three billion people are expected to be displaced by the effects of global warming by the end of the century, according to the United Nations.
She has stressed there is an “urgent need” for a plan to cope with increasing numbers of people moving to find shelter and food in the aftermath of climate destruction.
With the film, Zulfiqar is hoping to encourage the Scottish Government to go beyond its commitment to loss and damage funding and introduce preventative measures which can support those displaced by global warming but also build resilience in countries facing climate-related disasters.
These include scaling up climate education in Scotland and funding education schemes in countries where global warming is wreaking havoc.
In 2021 at COP26, former first minister Nicola Sturgeon announced an initial £2 million to tackle loss and damage caused by climate change in developing countries.
In 2022 at COP27, she then announced a further £5m funding pot, with her successor Humza Yousaf confirming another £2m the following year at COP28.
Zulfiqar (below) has also suggested the UK Government should consider extending its humanitarian visa programme to ensure no one in the UK would ever be forced to return to their country of origin if it had been hit by a climate-related disaster.
She told The National that through creating and exhibiting the film, she discovered refugees and asylum seekers in marginalised communities are largely unaware of what climate change is and the potential impact it will have on their lives.
She said: “We found through our Migration Blanket – Climate Solidarity film that there was a black hole when it comes to knowing about the impact of climate change, so this was hindering communities from putting measures in place in time before they became even more badly affected than they already are.
“We are already seeing mass media campaigns on climate risks and people being encouraged to grow their own food, but until people are directly affected they often won’t think about doing something about it, so we need to change that before it becomes too late.
“We need to educate everyone globally and in the UK. Food prices have increased due to climate change, for example the price of olive oil has skyrocketed due to poor harvests. Whether we like it or not, our interdependency on other countries is there due to climate change and growing food insecurity.
“Different communities will need different educational approaches based on science and what works well in their area. We need a multi-pronged approach which starts at home as well as in schools.”
Zulfiqar’s policy paper details how more than 140m people in Africa, Latin America and South Asia could be forced to migrate by 2050 to escape the worsening impacts of climate change unless urgent action is taken to curb global warming, according to the World Bank.
It also highlights how women and children are more vulnerable as they are more likely to face abuse or be trafficked following a climate disaster.
Migration Blanket – Climate Solidarity was shown during the Commonwealth Games in 2022, at COP28, and has been shown across Europe, the USA, Africa and the Middle East, inspiring campaigns and work around prioritising gender in climate policies.
Through the workshops run by ARTConnects, more than 95% of people said they had learned what the impact of climate change is and why it is happening, stressing they would take their own action to be more climate-friendly and encourage others to do the same.
Zulfiqar hopes the film can inspire the Scottish Government to think more about protecting women and girls in their climate policy and work to further educate the public to boost social cohesion and integration for displaced people.
She said: "We cannot tackle climate change if we do not tackle gender inequality. Policies need to place gender equality and education at the very heart, with involvement from those most affected to help shape their future lives.
“The Scottish Government needs to be applauded for taking the first step in committing to the loss and damage fund.
“However, we are running out of time as scientists have already warned and funds need to be dispersed on a grassroots level to those who can help communities fight the onslaught of climate change as fast and efficiently as possible.
“Climate education and community action are preventative measures which need to be scaled up in this race against time.”
